The Violin Geek Blog Tips, insight, and inspiration since 2007.
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I’ve written a number of posts over the years discussing effective ways to practice and ideas for helping create better practice habits or reinvigorate a practice routine. With my students, I prefer to focus on the quality of practice over stressing ...
Periods of overwhelm are common at any stage of learning to play the violin, viola, cello, fiddle, or any instrument for that matter. The technical aspects of any instrument, but especially violin family instruments, can be unforgiving, yet we all ...
We should never underestimate the power of foundational exercises. I really can't stress this enough in fact. In her YouTube series, “With Nicky,” violinist Nicola ...
My latest article for Strings Magazine focuses on some of the challenges of my favorite violin concerto. Check it out here: https://stringsmagazine.com/tips-on-nailing-tricky-double-stops-in-mendelssohns-violin-concerto/?mc_cid=2ba968c6f0&mc_eid=a5cf24edb5
The question posed was “How do I gain a local following as an unknown musician/band?”
Gaining a following takes time. A few more mailing list signups and social media likes and follows can be a good night. There aren't any quick tickets to fame, ...
June 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of my first experiences teaching violin, viola, fiddle, and cello lessons via Skype (and more recently also FaceTime and Zoom). A lot has changed since then! The milestone has had me reflecting on the hundreds ...
The question posed on a forum was: “How can people find great music and new artists if they don’t go to bars or listen to Spotify?”
Wow, well, I couldn’t help but share what myself and a network of talented and heartfelt musicians around the ...
Please email me at laurel@laurelthomsen.com if you have a violin, viola, fiddle, music biz, or practice related question you’d like answered in the blog or on a podcast, have a story or insight to share, or if you’d like to inquire about violin, viola, or fiddle lessons with me, in-person or online via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom.
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Laurel ThomsenViolin, Viola, Vocals
Performance, Instruction, Recording
Based in Santa Cruz, California
"After the Fire" - released January 21, 2022!
Each song portrays a facet of the journey from setback to reclaimed hope - finding faith in the possibility of LOVE in “Make Me Come Alive,” HOME in “Beale Street,” COMMUNITY in “Together Again” and “Money Shouldn’t Talk That Strong,” and one’s own STRENGTH and FORTITUDE in “If A Wave” and “Hey, It’ll Be OK.”